overseas in egypt, an egyptian court has granted hosni mubarak on appeal for his life sentence. that is according to a retrial of the ousted president. mubarak was convicted and sentenced to life in june for failing to prevent the killing of some 900 protesters during the uprising in 2011 that ended his 30-year rule. today's verdict was read out by a judge. it granted the appeal of his secretary in chief who is also serving a life time conviction on the same charges. the headline is -- over the weekend, in his weekly address, the president focus in on afghanistan which has been a huge budget item over the past 10 years. this follows friday's meeting with president karzai. >> this week, we agreed at this point afghan forces will take the lead for security across the country. our troops will shift to a support role. in the coming months, i will announce the next phase of our drawdown, and by the end of next year, america's war in afghanistan will be over. this progress has only been possible because of the heroic sacrifices of our troops and diplomats. more than half a million ame